My first hike was a warm up hike:

Spring Break Hike 2007 Smokey Mountains

I was planning on picking up from where I left off at Greenwood Lake and head north. Either that or ride my motorcycle down to Georgia and then hike NOBO from Springer Mountain for five days. Instead I decided to hike the length of Smoky Mountain National Park. I was exchanging messages with Dave Connolly ( teledaveaustin ) from Austin, Texas on Trailplace.com. He started hiking his thru-hike on March 15^th and while he was in Franklin, NC; he invited me to join him in the Great Smoky Mountains. So that’s what I tried to do. I was hoping that we would have met up at Fontana Dam. But it didn’t work out on two levels. One was that he decided to stop hiking during his stay in Franklin. He didn’t bother to notify me, even though I gave him my cell phone number and email address. The other level was the weather/logistical. It was very cold and I was hiking with the wrong back-country permit.

Concerns before the hike:

1.) I still haven’t fully tested out my hammock and tarp arrangement. I tried to sew zippers onto my tarp, but the sewing machine that I’m allowed to use at home is a piece of junk. So I gave that up. My wife, Linda, hasn’t had time to sew on the zippers with the good sewing machine. ( I’m not allowed to use the good sewing machine. ) I’d have to make do with what I have. I previously added brass eyelets around the edges of the hammock so that I can tie it up like a cocoon in bad weather instead of using zippers. I have slept in the hammock comfortably, but I haven’t field tested it in the rain yet. The Smokies get something like 80 – 120 inches of rain per year. I’ll guess I’ll experience a full field test next week!

2.) I need to work on my food planning. I lost 7 pounds in 6 days of hiking on my last hike. That wasn’t water weight loss either. I added powdered milk and instant breakfast to my food supply.

3.) Some of my gear were recent purchases to cut down on weight. Most notably, my sleeping bag, poncho, down jacket, and sleeping pad. These items need to be field tested.

4.) My newer, shorter pair of boots need some field miles to be fully broken in. No boots are fully broken in until they’ve been walked in for days in the rain. That type of breaking in needs to be done on short sectional hikes. I haven’t decided which pair of boots I’ll be wearing.

5.) I wanted to test out my new Injini toe socks prior to this hike to see if they prevent toe blisters. Oh well, I’ll survive if/when I get blisters on a 5 day hike.

6.) Most important, each hike is an opportunity to learn about myself and how I use my equipment and to have the chance to trim what I bring with me.

The plan was to strap my pack onto the back of my motorcycle and ride to school ( Newton, NJ ) on Thursday, April 5^th. Then high-tail it out of school when the bell rings at the end of the day. Then ride down US 81 as fast and as long as I can. Each hour delayed means hours on the trail that Dave is likely to be north of Fontana Dam. My best option is to aim for Fontana Dam and to hike north for a few days.

Normally I ride down the entire length of Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway and RT 129/19 to Atlanta every Spring Break. But in this case, that will take too long. So I’ll ride down US 81 to make time, do my hike and then ride those cool roads on the way back home.

Well, that’s not how it all turned out. My father volunteered to drive me down to Tennessee to be able to spend some time with me. We had an ok time going down. I got to treat him to a couple of meals at Cracker Barrel. That was nice. We stayed overnight in Gaitlinburg. I got a very late start at Fontana Dam, April 8, 2007. 12:00pm. The weather was very cold 10F – 20F. I looked around the dam. I had fun seeing that the public showers at the visitor center really existed. I’ve read about them. The walk up Shuckstack Mountain was pretty painless. I only stopped for a breather once. I’ve heard that it’s steep. I guess that hiking in such cold weather made it much easier to hike up. I stopped a little bit before the fire tower to enjoy the scenic views and to eat some tuna fish. The tuna fish didn’t agree with me. Later I stopped to drink some milk, instant breakfast, followed by some pudding. All that dairy product after some questionable food was not a smart thing to eat. I hiked toward the Mollies Ridge Shelter with an uncomfortable intestinal tract. I was listening to PBS radio – Prarie Home Companion. I was enjoying the Lake Wobegone skit as I hiked into the Mollies Ridge Shelter. The Ridge Runner ( Carl Goodall ) was waiting there. His job is to intercept inexperienced hikers and to educate them and to save them from themselves. Ridgerunners play the role of being extended eyes and ears of the park rangers. They don’t directly enforce the rules and regulations, but they do carry two-way radios and can call up the park rangers. Carl intelligently engaged in conversation to assess me. He quickly determined that I had the wrong backcountry camping permit. From there he continued to gather information without directly asking me questions. Later on he told me that he had reservations about my clothing. He thought that I was wearing cotton pants. That gave me an initial low assessment. When I told him that my pants 25% cotton and 75% polyester and that the rest of my clothing was 100% synthetic ( including additional layers inside my pack ) and talked about my last couple of hikes his assessment of me went up a bit. I got to learn a lot about him. We talked about our careers and families. I learned that he spent his life working in a munitions plant. I enjoyed listening to his stories about how he relates to his co-workers and supervisors. He thru-hiked the AT a few years ago.

He didn’t turn me in for having the wrong permit. But he strongly advised for me to hike down to Cades Cove to get the proper permits. I spent the evening emptying my bowels. It was good that he had a full-sized shovel leaning against the shelter. I hung my food up on the bear cables. That was a novelty. I’ve hung my food up at night, but never before by cables. Carl built a fire in the fireplace. He wisely slept in the bunk next to the fire. I slept further away to give him his personal space because he expressed earlier that he didn’t like sleeping in a crowded shelter.

My gear worked out very well during the hike. I was dressed in layers. I adjusted my clothing as I hiked. No sweat build-up. I was comfortable. At night the temperatures were close to 0F. The Mollies Ridge Shelter was recently refurbished. The roof and some of the timbers were replaced. The bear fencing was removed and a tarp was stretched across the front for limited protection from the cold wind. It kept some of the heated air in the shelter, but to say that it was drafty would be a gross understatement. I neglected to wait for my self-inflating pad to fully expand. But in spite of that, the new sleeping bag, polartec clothing, and down jacket made for a comfortable and warm night in the shelter.

Carl explained to me that the bear fencing was removed to protect the bears. The fencing was originally installed to protect people from food scavenging bears. People were voluntarily caged in the shelter for bears to view. A potential boxed lunch for the bears. But too many people were feeding the bears from within the shelter – through the fence. This created bears that then associated food with humans. These are the bears that turn into bad bears. Initially those bears get relocated and if they continue to interact with humans, then they are shot. So by removing the fencing, then people are less likely to hand off food to the bears. So in the short run, people are at more risk without the fencing, but in the long run, it’s safer. It was pretty darn cold. Carl told me that a couple of hikers were escorted off of the trail on April 8^th due to potential hyperthermia. We listened to his radio in the morning, April 9^th. Two more hikers were escorted up to Clingman’s Dome to be driven down by park rangers for the same reason. I don’t like the permit system and overbearing enforcement presence in the Smokies, but there is a need for it.

I decided to hike down to Cades Cove to obtain the right paperwork and to sleep that night at a lower elevation. I stopped at the Russell Field Shelter to look at the old bear fencing. The shelter is scheduled to be refurbished this year. So it was a last chance to look at an old shelter. It took me all day to get down to Cades Cove, which put me one day short of food to get across the Smokies. By the time I got near Cades Cove it was 4:30pm. I was worried that I’d get there too late so to get the back country permits that I needed and if that happened then I’d not have the permit necessary to camp down at this elevation. As I started to consider the probabilities involved I decided to hitch-hike out of there. I was relieved to be picked up by a volunteer ( Al ) on his way home. It was such a relief to get away from all the rules, regulation, and park rangers.

Al dropped me off at a low budget hotel in Alcoa, TN. I ate dinner at a Chinese Buffet two businesses down. I watched the History Channel into the wee hours of the morning and when I finally went to sleep, I slept soundly. I got up and ate breakfast at the Burger King across the street. It was interesting to listen to the managers of the restaurant talk about how difficult it was to learn the health / food handling regulations. Then I wandered around town while waiting for a ride home. Then drove back home with my father.

Now I’m planning on my next hike, which is only a few weeks away. Springer Mountain, GA to Harpers Ferry, WV. I worked on my beat up camper/van a couple of weeks ago. I blew the motor. My screw-up. Now I have a motor to rebuild. So I might not start on my start date of June 24^th. Hopefully I will only be delayed by a week.